International Management Case Study: MTV Arabia Analysis

This case study examines MTV Arabia's international and cross-cultural management strategies in the Arab marketplace. It analyzes the political environment, cultural considerations, and the challenges MTV faced when entering the Arab market, including navigating differing cultural norms and religious sensitivities. The report evaluates MTV's approach to managing the political context, including its strategies for targeting the youth demographic and adapting to local preferences. Furthermore, the case study critically assesses MTV's internationalization strategy, applying theories like the Uppsala model, network theory, and the born global approach to understand its expansion process and the challenges associated with its global presence. The analysis considers the importance of local partnerships, cultural adaptation, and the impact of political and cultural contexts on MTV's international success.

INTERNATIONAL AND
CROSS-CULTURAL
MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MANAGEMENT OF POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT..................................................................3
CONCEPT OF INTERNATIONALISATION AND THEORIES..................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
Cross cultural management is when the organisation deals with different cultural aspects of the
employees. And Organisation is composed of different set of people that are originated from
different regions. The duty of manager in this regard is to build a bridge on the different cultural
aspects and drive everyone to maintain a unique culture that with respect to the organisation
(Sharipov, 2020). Especially when a particular organisation is running over numerous branches
then this kind of aspects are seem to be happening. The management try hard in order to
maintain a pace with all the employees upon delivering the objectives of the organisation and
ethics that are associated (Vahlne and Johanson, 2017). There are different scenarios where
immigrated people are welcome to take part in the work because of their ideas that are same to
be a boon to the company. The entire report deals with the cross-cultural management and that
with regards to the company MTV Arabia. The MTV networks started from 1981 in Arabia
where they are involved in dealing with Global youth and 120 countries. They have a record of
reaching 450 million households and dealing with 30 different languages. The cross-cultural
attribution is because of its transformation from one culture to a western influence culture in
November, 2007. The report focuses upon the steps that the organisation adopted in order to deal
with the political circumstances and its measures in dealing with the situations and management
are depicted in the report.
MANAGEMENT OF POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT
About Arab culture aspect
Arab cultural considerations are said to be one of the major challenges for every organisation to
extend into. The same was challenged to MTV Arabia when it was about to enter into Arab
culture (Knigh and De Wit, 2018). Challenges that were associated for the channel in order to
approach the Arab country is that most of its culture is very straight. the same to be different
cultures in the Arabian countries. Every country is set to follow different multilingual culture
where people may not accept the intervention of new channels so soon. The different countries
that fall in Arab are said to maintain different standards and their perspectives and cultural
aspects are varied.
MTV intervention

The MTV is known for the Western type of culture that may not be so much acceptable by the
Arabian government. Therefore the biggest challenge lies in entering into this particular culture
and maintaining the pace of being the best. The Arab country is mostly known for very few
religions are out of which they follow Judaism, Christianity and Islam. This particular races are
set to maintain certain standards to which few people may not allow things that drawn from
anything other than their culture (Monaghan, 2020). For example, taking one of the aspect of the
most known for culture is that the father in the family are responsible to decide upon what the
entire family will have to do. Therefore, if there is an obstruction to the flow of watching
whatever is being depicted by the MTV channel then the entire permission lies in the hands of
father. This is also one of the biggest challenges that MTV will have to work upon.
Strategy Adopted to face challenges
The channel drive so hard and after a long research that was performed in order to know the
aspects of culture and the ways to enter into the Arab culture the channel was able to find a
solution after all. The channel decided to target young people because half of the Arab country
population is said to be the young people below the age of 25. This is the main strategy that was
adopted by MTV upon successful e launching that channels in the Arab country. The MTV
channel keenly observed the demographics of the country and the political influence that falls
upon the channels and that is when the channel was able to step up ahead in order to move
through the atrocities by mainly focusing upon the youth of the country (Santangelo and Meyer,
2017). This seems to be a greatest step that was taken by the company because it was slowly able
to enter into the country. although the channel was launched successfully yet there are different
countries that falls in the Arab government. Every country may not accept the same values for
example the channels that were visualised by the people in Dubai may not be accepted by others.
MTV focused upon maintaining the localisation brand and therefore it took all the consequences
and triangle them in order to move ahead with every region's considerations. During
globalisation of MTV into the Arab country there were different conflicts that work going on
between the Arab countries as well as the Americans there for the relations between them turned
week which again fell upon the channel. A lot of research was performed by MTV upon their
counterparts that made them pay attention towards many understandings in order to deal with the
people in Arab country. One of the best movie that was taken by MTV was to pair up with the

local partner in order to stay strong in market penetration. This step helped the company to gain
more popularity over other strategies.
CONCEPT OF INTERNATIONALISATION AND THEORIES
MTV consider Centre internationalisation as one of the major components and the different
strategies that are involved in internationalisation as per the company's policies are being
discussed in the report. Internationalisation not just means that a part of the company is
expanding globally but it means that the entire company is going to adapt to all the policies as
well as the cultural aspects that are existing in that particular country in which company is going
to operate (Woldegiyorgis and et,al, 2018). The processes that are involved in
internationalisation are the three main strategies which are Uppsala, network theory and born
global. The concept physic distance is said to be one of the major components upon a company's
expansion and its internationalisation where it means that a bridge between the home culture as
well as the culture that is happening in the place where the company is going to expand. This
physic distance will have to be filled in order to maintain the norms of that particular
government. MTV when extending in Arab country where the cultural heritage is said to be rich
and people are more towards prioritising religious aspects and therefore the culture varies from
one place to the other (Buckner and Stein, 2020). MTV focuses upon not having a longer physics
distance in order to make sure that the company's policies are not disrupted because of its
expansion. All the Arab countries are said to be very much towards the religious beliefs and
people there are so much towards their contemporary words and therefore they are not ready to
accept the things that our newly introduced. When this particular distance is being expanded into
greater terms then the company is said to be in a condition of Bane where there is a lot of
difference that is being taken place while expanding globally which will affect the originality of
the company. Three different theories when applied to the company MTV are as follows:
Uppsala model:
This model is a step-by-step process that is essential for a particular company in order to expand
internationally. MTV company inherited this particular model in order to grow slowly by the
baby steps that are necessary for it to acquire the new market where the company is going to
expand. Arab market is said to be one of the challenging one where the company will have to

gain more knowledge about each perspective and steps that are existing in a particular region and
traits.
Assumptions:
The entire Uppsala model when applied to MTV company will draw the assumptions like
gaining knowledge approach is mandatory in order to evolve in another country. In a country like
Arab where there are different cultural aspects and one region is not similar to the other therefore
it require much effort and step by step procedure in order to analyse as well as cope up with
every circumstance of localisation. To grow big it is essential to grow small. With this model the
MTV company stay committed towards its resources and their commitment in allocating and
involving in expanding local leaves by tying up with the local partner.
Strategy:
The strategies that are applied by the MTV company upon inheriting this particular model of
internationalisation is the commitment as well as the step by step procedure in order to meet the
expectations that were derived of the different components of Arab country.
Network theory of internationalisation:
The earlier theory, Uppsala theory of internationalisation upon applied to MTV company was
only able to focus on gaining experience as well as knowing aspects of marketplace has affected
the company upon gaining more of critics. All the that method was applicable on gaining
experience but it was not short about how long can the company be able to gain experience in the
market place. Upon globalisation there is not much time that is allotted to the company to only
gain experience and knowledge regarding things around. It only matters when the things get into
ties and gain base that is essential for a company to with stand and aim for growth. Therefore, the
network theory of internationalisation has evolved and applied onto the company in this aspect.
The network theory of internationalisation understands the drawbacks of Uppsala theory and
came up with a regulatory approach that gives formatting towards how far can the company be
able to withstand the atrocities in the country where the MTV company is going to operate. A
proper relationship between the organisation and the external stakeholders is important when a
company is going to expand globally (Lahiri and et.al, 2020). This can only be able to act as a
shield for the company to penetrate more into the culture of Arab countries. The people who ever
are involved in taking up the business to a very next level are said to be the major considerations
of the network theory of internationalisation. The theory emphasizes that the ties are important to

understand and to attribute towards developing. There are different types that are mentioned
according to network theory of internationalisation upon the company MTV. The MTV company
will have to identify the strong ties as well as the weak type. Upon successful globalisation, one
can easily emphasized that MTV has identified its strong ties which means that people will tend
to stay in the company and work for the growth of our long-term. The weak ties are said to be the
ones that will discontinuously work for the organisation which will indirectly affect the growth
of the organisation. From the sources it can be understood that the company chose strong ties
that made it one of the most valuable networks in the Arab countries. MTV company will
maintain the pace of maintaining an existing network by the organisational aspect which is truly
one of the deserving factors in extending type. Along with increasing experience and knowledge
regarding the market place of the new country it is also important to immediately go with the
tiles which play a major role upon extending the company. The success of MTV company
resembles that the company has included the network theory of internationalisation as one of its
major prospects upon extending globally and therefore they have extended ties with the local
partnership and that made all the difference.
Born Global theory of internationalisation:
MTV company is known for its western culture which cannot easily penetrate into the people of
Arab countries who are having their own cultural prospects and give more important to religious
aspects full stop people in Arab countries follow various culture and every region is said to differ
from their culture when compared to other reasons full stop this itself shows that MTV company
not just maintain stuck in observation and knowledge regarding the cultural aspects of the
country but also from small steps that are in world in bringing and maintaining the ties with the
local partner full stop the MTV companies identify the local partner as it happens and with their
help it focused up on the use of Arab countries who are more prone and interested towards this
particular channel. The Born Global model of internationalisation is entirely different when
compared to the other two models of internationalisation. The Born Global model is said to be a
completely different scenario where it only focuses upon the growth in the country where the
company has expanded globally. It will directly help the company to focus upon its target by
virtualising the process of internationalisation. This is something similar to International
entrepreneurship. This theory allows the company to stand as a unique trade and helps hate to
draw sales all by itself. There is a lot of ground work that is to be performed by the MTV

company in order to draw its sales and stand independent of any other firm. This is a typical
theory of internationalisation but when applied will help the company to flourish in all the
possible ways within no time. The theory helps the company to only focus upon the domestic
market and will make strategies that are required to acquire the knowledge of domestic market.
The time period that is listed upon drawing this knowledge is said to be minimum and most of
the foreign sales are generated. this method helps the company to put resources upon gaining the
resources. It is not very easy to attend fame in a very short period upon extending internationally.
There is a risk that is associated with every company in order to maintain their Pace and win over
atrocities (Bahl and et.al, 2021). The local vendors that are making success since years will
probably not allowed the new company to flourish. The MTV company faced many challenges
with the local partner and later was able to gain its own competency and its own competitive
advantage. This is one of the booming factors for the company which made it to expand globally.
The Porter's Diamond framework:
The regional point of consideration is set to be one of the major criteria that MTV focused upon.
upon this particular focus the porter's Diamond theory can be applied upon the company's
intervention into the new market. This particular Framework will help the company in order to
understand and acquire knowledge regarding different marketing circumstances that will help the
company to analyse and stand along with its own strategies. It is not until when a particular
strategy is being employed upon that can be applied on to the organisation and then the
organisation can compete and maintain competitive advantage. With respect to the Arab country
the company has gained more of the regional advantage where it focuses upon 25% of the youth
who are more in number when compared to the other people in the country. The factors in this
Framework help the company to maintain a potential target in the market by making the
company and its management to understand the risk factors associated with moving globally.
The input that are generated from the factors that are acquired from the marketplace of Arab
country are regularly took as an input production and a safeguarded using this Framework. These
are different demand conditions that are existing in the world which are said to be sophisticated
and that makes the company to be successful internationally. That may not be many supporting
Industries yet there can be a reliability that is acquired from one partner that the company has
gained. This particular framework will emphasize upon the company's industry competitiveness

and helps it to maintain a strong environment with challenging atmosphere and will make the
company strong in competing the other sector.
CONCLUSION
From the entire report it can be understood clearly the effects of internationalisation and cross
culture that is being studied. The report explains cross culture as one of the major aspects of
consideration and the thing that MTV also considered on and internationalisation. MTV has
encroached upon the cultural aspects of Arab country and that is what the report has drawn
completely. The aspects of understanding and experiencing by gaining knowledge regarding the
marketplace and the competitive advantage are clearly understood in the report. The different
strategies of internationalisation will help to analyse the basic steps that are required for any
companies to be incorporated in the organisations with the aim of moving internationally. It is
not until when the company maintain ties with the local vendors for the partners that the
company can go ahead for over a long term. From the report it can be understood that no
company will go with the week ties which will only disturb the floor with which the company is
moving ahead. The entire report concludes supporting and highlighting the effect that are to be
included while extending global and operating which is a heavy challenge that is to be taken by
the companies and only the address it is can be limited once the company is potential enough and
its efficiency is same upon winning the challenges that are coming ahead of its path. MTV for
being one such international fame has seen many atrocities and that is what is concluded in the
report. The strategies that are employed by MTV are said to be a really boring factor for the
company in order to expand its industrialisation upon various countries. Being a very critical and
challenging country Arab the MTV has employed its strategies in order to win and overcome the
circumstances it has face and within a short stipulated time period it has gained its involvement
and is moving towards its growth trajectory.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Sharipov, 2020. Internationalization of higher education: definition and description. Mental
Enlightenment Scientific-Methodological Journal. 2020(1). pp.127-138.
Vahlne and Johanson, 2017. From internationalization to evolution: The Uppsala model at 40
years. Journal of International Business Studies. 48(9). pp.1087-1102.
Knigh and De Wit, 2018. Internationalization of higher education: Past and future. International
Higher Education. (95). pp.2-4.
Monaghan, 2020. Born digitals: Thoughts on their internationalization and a research agenda.
Journal of International Business Studies .51(1). pp.11-22.
Santangelo and Meyer, 2017. Internationalization as an evolutionary process. Journal of
International Business Studies. 48(9). pp.1114-1130.
Woldegiyorgis and et,al, 2018. Internationalization of research: Key considerations and
concerns. Journal of Studies in International Education. 22(2). pp.161-176.
Buckner and Stein, 2020. What counts as internationalization? Deconstructing the
internationalization imperative. Journal of Studies in International Education. 24(2).
pp.151-166.
Lahiri and et.al, 2020. Behind the internationalization of family SMEs: A strategy tripod
synthesis. Global Strategy Journal. 10(4). pp.813-838.
Bahl and et.al, 2021. Managing internationalization and innovation tradeoffs in entrepreneurial
firms: Evidence from transition economies. Journal of World Business. 56(1). p.101150.
Online
Theories of Internationalisation: [Online]. Available through: < Theories of internationalisation
and their impact on market entry | Emerald Insight >
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